Tasty Herb Chicken

Week # 2 - Recipe # 2

Hey guys, well I'm in Spain at the moment. I arrived on Wednesday so I've been eating a bunch of awesome things lately, i had some wine on the plane then some papas bravas when i arrived and all sort of hams and lots of sangria, overall a great time. But because I've been travelling i haven't had the time or kitchen to invent a new recipe, so I'm gonna share a pretty new recipe i came up with a few months ago. It's very simple but it's becoming one of my favorites.

Chicken and Herbs go hand to hand. Plain chicken can be boring but if you pair it with a few different flavors it pops out and becomes a great dish.

What you will need for this recipe:

- 4 nice chicken breasts ( or less if you don't wanna make so much, lol )

- 1 big handful of fresh tarragon, basil and rosemary. ( chopped very fine)

- the zest of one whole lemon or lime ( plus 2 teaspoons of the juice )

- 1 or 2 clove of minced garlic.

- 1 and 1/2 cups of flour.

- 3 big pinches of salt

- fresh cracked pepper.

- 1 or 2 teaspoons of ground cumin.

- enough vegetable or olive oil to pan fry the chicken.

- handful of chopped chives.

- 1 tablespoon of butter.

- 2 cups Approx, of chicken stock.

Ok guys so when u make sure u got all the ingredients, grab a chopping board chop all your fresh herbs, your chives and your garlic, add to that the lemon zest mix all together and set a side. Then take the chicken an cut it into strips not to thick not to thin. After that pour you flour in a bowl and season with the salt, cumin and pepper. Heat a big frying pan and add your butter and some oil to cover it lightly, when the pan is getting hot you wanna grab your chicken strips and toss them in the flour to lightly coat them ( we don't want a thick coat, just enough to get nice color ) when the oil and butter is hot, add just a little bit of the Herb mix to flavor it, then place your chicken strips so they pan fry. At this point you want to be using high heat because your pan is loaded and you want all your pieces of chicken to get nice and golden brown.

When all the strips in the pan are golden brown on both sides, lower the heat to medium low and add just enough chicken stock to reach half the thickness of the strips, immediately add in a nice amount of your Herb mix ( like half or so, or as much as you want ) also add the lemon juice.

Flip the strips over and over and if the liquid reduces a lot just add a little more chicken stock, then a few pinches of flour to give it sauce consistency, again if it gets to thick add more stock. let it all cook for 5 min or so turning the chicken and moving the pan. The idea is to get nice golden brown pieces of chicken and a delicious Herb sauce that covers them. Finish with a little more of the herb mix, taste the sauce and chicken and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve along with mash potatoes if you wish.

So that's it guys a really simple and delicious chicken dish that can be made pretty fast, if i didn't explain something well or if you didn't understand something just leave it in the comments or send me a email. Next week i'll add a new recipe so be checking my blog!

Healthy Butternut squash soup

OK guys so this is the first recipe i'm adding to the blog, and i'm gonna do my best at explaining how to make it haha.

So today i opened my fridge and saw i had a nice butternut squash, and it was pretty rainy outside, something very common in Costa Rica around September lol. So what better for a rainy day than a nice bowl of hot soup? I included healthy in the name because these last days I've been trying to eat healthier, cutting out very fatty foods and including more veggies and fruits instead of carbs and this soup is really a reflection of that cause it contains a good amount of veggies and the only fat is olive oil ( and a little cheese.....) which is good for you .

So what you will need for this soup:

- one medium or big butternut squash

- one nice big onion ( chopped )

- 3 or 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil ( and a little more to drizzle over the squash )

- one handful of grated parmigiano regiano cheese ( or any other kind of Parmesan cheese)

-1 minced garlic

- approx 3-4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock ( add more if needed or the opposite )

- half a teaspoon of ground cardamom

- 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon of sugar

- salt to taste (approx 2 big pinches)

- pepper to taste

So after you make sure u have the stuff, cut you butternut squash in half lengthwise ( remove excess seeds) place the half's on a cookie sheet drizzle a little olive oil on each one place in a 400 degree oven for about 40 - 60 min depending on size or until nice and soft, roasting the butternut squash allows it to keep all the flavors and nutrients inside, everything concentrates and it not only tastier but better for you. After you cooked the squash, using a spoon you want to remove all the "meat" from the skin and make a little puree, set that aside. In a medium sized pot, pour your olive oil let it warm up and add your onion chopped up along with your garlic, let it get all happy. At this point you want to be cooking with medium high heat and you want your onion to get nice and soft and crystallized. Next you wanna add your butternut squash puree and lower the heat down to medium, move it around with a spoon and then add the stock, do this kinda slow so u can see the consistency ( not to liquid not to thick ) add in the salt and spices along with sugar stir it up and try it ( ask yourself does it need more salt or sugar ? or maybe a little more spices to make it pop out more? ) if you think it needs more seasoning then add to taste. Cause in the end that's what cooking is all about, playing with flavors and being creative not just following a recipe. When you've done that grab a emerge blender and blend everything together till you get a nice smooth consistency if it needs more stock add more. Let it simmer for about 5 min take off the heat and add the freshly grated Parmesan cheese ( then stir ), it will give it a great finish.

Serve with croûtons, drizzle a little olive oil on top and if u wish a little more cheese.

Ok guys so that's my recipe for week 1 just at the end of the week haha i enjoyed making and eating that soup and i think u guys will too so give it a try. if u didn't understand something or just wanna ask me something leave it as a comment. I 'll be adding pictures soon.

Cooking keeps me sane project

I'm finishing culinary school and I've always loved to cook. i'm always in the kitchen inventing something so i decided to start a project, i'll be inventing a new recipe every week for a year, i'll also share recipes I've already invented. once i get a few followers i'll take suggestions on what kind of recipe to create and try, it could be a dessert a snack and appetizer, something for breakfast, lunch or supper, it doesn't matter. The whole deal behind this is to share ideas and new recipes with people cause cooking really does keep me sane.